Wedding Frenzy!

Since I figure you are all probably sick of reading about my rambling thoughts on my pregnancy, I thought I'd share the other big topic that is on my mind lately!

Both of my siblings are currently engaged and planning weddings in 2013.

My brother and his fiance are getting married first, and have decided to get married in Colorado, while my sister and her fiancee are planning their wedding in Chicago.  The weddings will take place about 2 months apart, so it looks like we'll be having an interesting and travel-filled summer!

I am a bridesmaid in both weddings, and D will be a groomsman in my brother's wedding.  AJ will also be a flower girl for both weddings, so we have a lot of fancy clothes to look forward to next year!  D tried to teach her how to do the "wedding walk" the other day and it was an utter failure.  At least we've got some time to perfect it!  ;)

Even though both weddings are close together, they are bound to be the complete opposite as far as style, location, just about everything!   My brother is getting married at the Garden of the Gods and my sister is getting married in downtown Chicago at a swanky location.  Can you imagine two more different venues?

Now that my siblings are planning weddings I'm busy looking at stuff online and pinning all the things!  I am constantly reminded at how wonderful it would have been to have Pinterest at my disposal when I was planning my wedding.

Also, this is my first (and second) time as a bridesmaid, so I'm not sure if there's anything specific I should be doing this early on in the process.  I'm out of town, so its not like I can just go dress shopping or other things like that.

The Post-Christmas Travel-Fest

I've mentioned a few times that we went out of town right after Christmas and were gone through New Year's Day. We went to visit my in-laws for a few days in Hometown, USA and then we make the trek across a few states to attend a wedding of some of our best friends (D was the best man). This was one of the first weddings that we have ever taken AJ to (the first was my cousin's wedding in September) and she was fairly well-behaved.

We knew that this wedding would be a fun one, not only because it took place on New Year's Eve, but also because we have a lot of mutual friends with the bride and groom, and both of our families were invited to the wedding as well. We saw old friends from when we were all stationed at Ft. Hood together. The Ft. Hood group was a crazy, fun group. We were all around the same age, none of us had kids yet and the guys were all freshly back from Iraq. We did lots of drinking and eating out, BBQing and nights at the comedy club in Austin. It was great to see everyone again and get to meet the kiddos! ;)

As for the wedding itself, AJ didn't last very long since the ceremony started at her usual dinner time. AJ and I, along with my friend Nickie's son (who just turned 2) and her hubby Mike spent the ceremony in the back room and then headed over to the reception site. AJ enjoyed "looking" at the sparkly ornaments on the HUGE Christmas tree during the cocktail hour. She also enjoyed walking around the reception hall carrying her purse. She basically thought the crowd was there to see her and she was loving it. It was hilarious.

Walking around with "Mimi" (my mom) and her purse.

The centerpieces that looked just like the ball in Times Square!

My brother and his girlfriend.

Looking at the sparkly ornaments with Grandpa (my FIL).

My sister and her boyfriend.

One of the highlights from the night was when we were sitting at the table eating our salads and we looked over at AJ, sitting quietly in her chair, spoon-feeding herself ranch dressing.

Me and my girl at dinner.

AJ with the bride and groom.

Somewhere between the salad course and the main course AJ completely lost her cool and I decided that it was time to head back to the hotel with my Aunt-In-Law (? D's Aunt) and put Miss AJ to bed. We hopped on the shuttle and I put AJ right to bed when we got back. I dropped off the monitor and room key with D's Aunt and caught the shuttle bus back to the reception with Nickie.

It was about that time that things got out of control, in a good way. It was a long night, so to shorten this post up a bit, the evening included lots of vodka tonics, red velvet cake, cigars, party hats, noise makers, vodka shots with new friends, silly pictures, inappropriate dance moves and so much more.

When I look back at the evening I consider myself lucky that I felt decent enough Sunday morning to successfully navigate a 1.5 hour car ride to the airport for a noon o'clock flight on New Year's Day with an almost 2 year old. What the eff was I thinking? Ha! In all reality, I'm glad I didn't worry about it and let myself have a fun night out with my hubby and friends. I'm sure I'd feel differently if I had felt worse on Sunday, though. Maybe its an omen for how the rest of 2012 will go. That would be nice.

Dress (and other) Shopping Woes...

I officially received one of my first holiday gifts in the mail yesterday. My grandparents always send me money for Christmas and birthdays, and I told D that if I didn't get a Kindle for Christmas this year (hint, hint) I was going to save up my Christmas money and buy one for myself. I know, look at me!

Well, I got a card from my grandparents yesterday and now I'm in a very intense internal debate with myself. Do I go ahead and buy the Kindle (which I know I'm not getting, by the way) or do I wait on the Kindle and buy a dress to wear on New Years Eve to the formal wedding we're attending?

I'm leaning towards the dress at this point because I'm thinking I'll just buy the Kindle after Christmas, but I'm having lots and lots of trouble finding a dress that fits my criteria.

It has to:

A. Cost less than $150.

B. Be sparkly or fancy (don't worry, I got the go-ahead from the bride on this one).

C. Be impressive.

D. Be available in my size (or preferably in store, so I can try it on).

E. Look good great on me.

So I'm sure you can see where I'm running into problems. I've found plenty of to-die-for dresses online that I assume will look great on me, are sparkly, impressive and less than $150, but not available in my size, or they come in my size but cost $275. I just can't justify spending that kind of money, ya know?

Here are a few that I'm considering so you can get an idea of what I'm looking for, and then hopefully you can all look and find me one that will be perfect! (Hey, why do I have a blog if not to enlist my readers to do my dirty work?!)











I want to point out that these dresses are not in order of favorites, so let me know which ones you like and which you don't. I'm also interested if you think any are more New Year's Eve-ish than others (obviously the sparkly one is). Hubs will be wearing his blues, but that doesn't stop me from wearing a black dress! Also, if you have other suggestions, by all means, let me know!

Finally, Some Randomness....

• I finally went running this morning. {Cue angels singing}


• I finally booked hubby's flight for my cousin's wedding in September. {Yay}


• The check I wrote for the registration for my car was finally cashed. {I hate when places take forever to cash checks.}


• The lawn finally doesn't look like a jungle anymore. {I mowed yesterday during naptime}


• Hubby and I sat outside on the patio last night and watched the sun set behind some trees. {It was nice to spend time together}


• I'm starting to get excited for the marathon and spending some time with my family. {But first I'll see them at my cousin's wedding next month}


• I'm trying to decided if we should try to make the trip to Hometown, USA for Thanksgiving. {We already decided that we're not traveling for Christmas}


• AJ has pretty much boycotted all food other than ketchup. {This makes for messy and less-than-nutritious meals}


• I've forgotten how tired running in the morning makes me. {I feel like I need a nap by noon}


• I'm finally starting to feel like Summer is coming to an end. {Thank God}


• I'll never be caught up on Laundry. {Who will?}


• We rearranged our bedroom furniture and love the new look. {Pictures to come soon}


• AJ just woke up from her nap, so I'm signing off. {I'll be back soon with a real post}
  

The Wedding

This post will be very picture heavy. I apologize in advance, but you've been warned!

MBD, me and Sirrah (the bride) the night before the wedding.

These two girls were the first friends I made in college. MBD was literally the first person I met. Its kind of fun to look back at the pictures and stuff from the beginning of freshman year of college and see how far we've come!

MBD, me and Bert at the brewery.

A few interesting things you should know about me and my college roommates.

1. There are 7 of us. We can be very overwhelming.

Me and MBD (we apparently love to take pictures together).

2. Yes, all 7 of us lived in the same house, for 2 years! Before that we all (except one) lived on the same floor of the dorms together.

MBD, Pants, and Shel at the brewery.

3. We love each other. A lot. We love taking pictures. We love telling the same stories and inside jokes. We love talking. All at the same time. See overwhelming.

The NASCAR cooler and stone-washed jean shorts. A perfect match!

4. Each time one of us gets married we take it as a personal invitation to leave the other husbands at home and stay all together in a room, sleepover style. We also take it as a personal invitation to drink lots of beer and get offended when there are others invited to the wedding.

Pants, Linus, and Bert hanging out in the hotel on Friday night.

5. We have obnoxious nicknames for each other and only use them when referring to or speaking to each other.

Linus, Bert, MBD, Pants, and Shel hangin'.

6. We have some other friends from college who didn't live with us (boys) and they were ironically at this wedding too (Sirrah's new hubby lived with them in a big house).

MBD and me before the wedding.

7. I'm not sure how we all managed to live together without killing each other.

Shel, Linus, Bert and Me waiting out the rain before the ceremony.

8. We all talk about each other behind everyone's backs, but its okay, because its expected.

Me and Bert waiting for the ceremony to start.

9. We're the type of friends who can always pick up where we left off, no matter how long its been, without any awkwardness whatsoever.

The kiss!

10. We always want separate checks at restaurants, no matter what.

All the roomies!

11. We have a pose that we always do for pictures. Its the one right above this text. ^

Me and Sirrah on her wedding day!

12. Its still crazy to me to think that some people just lived with their roommates, while we created life-long, incredibly close friendships with each other.

The first dance as husband and wife.

13. Our husbands don't get it. True story: Pants once told her hubby (fiance at the time) that she was excited about seeing her roommates and he told her that he was her roommate. For us the term "roommate" is not so much a classification or a position, but a name. The boys just don't understand. I'm not sure they ever will.

Roomies at the reception.

14. We are cray-cray. Obvs. And I love them. The end.

Shel, Jacob, Tony, and honorary roomie Brittney* at wedding after-hours!

You know what the absolute best part of the weekend is? This girl comes today to visit for the week! I'm so excited to see her again and spend some one on one time with my girl!

Shel!!!

Shel and I weren't super close while we were in school, but after graduation, we moved to the big citay and started hanging out a ton. She was one of my bridesmaids and has been my go-to girl ever since our days meeting for cocktails after work and spending our Saturdays watching movies. We've been through a lot together and she is irreplaceable in my life. I can't wait to spend time with her and just hang for a week.

*Honorary Roomie Brittany is not really a roomie, but stayed in the hotel with us because she didn't have her own room.

Get In Mah Belly!

If you've been reading my {lack of} posts lately, you know that AJ and I are about to embark on a semi cross-country drive back to Hometown, USA for a little family time with my grandparents, a wedding, sleepovers with AJ's grandparents, dinner with relatives, and ohhhh, dinner with the relatives.

FIL, are you listening?

I need me some homemade gravy, pasta, meatballs, sausage, and maybe some manicotti and garlic bread.

Please notice that I said NEED, not want. I NEED someone to make me a delicious, multi-course, homemade Italian meal.

Oh, I also need to get some real Hometown, USA food while I'm home too.

You can bet that I'm going to make every effort to eat at Skyline Chili when I stop in Ohio to visit my grandparents. Also, at bloggy BFF Moe's urging, I'm going to hook myself up to an IV of eat some Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream as well.

I don't even consider Columbus, OH to be my hometown (although I did live there for several years as a youngster). I have lots (and lots) of family there and my parents grew up there though, so its kind of a second hometown for me (or third, but that's another story).

Also, in case it wasn't clear, I equate food with happiness. A visit home isn't complete without at least trip to the best hotdog restaurant ever, or a sandwich (complete with hot peppers) from Potbelly. Don't even get me started on pizza. Oh, pizza. How I miss you when I'm gone.

Sidenote: I'm sure other cities have pizza as well. Its just not the same. Let's not get into a debate on whether Windy City pizza or Big Apple pizza is better. Just agree to disagree, k? Mmmk!

So folks, to wrap up the story, I'm going home to eat. I will most likely return to the land of eternal summer a good 20 5 pounds heavier than when I leave here next week. I'm also going to drink. Lots. I am going to a bachelorette party and a wedding sans bebe, I mean, what do you expect?

I just hope I don't gain too much to fit back in the car at the end of the trip! ;)

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 3rd Anniversary to my wonderful hubby!

We have had a great 3 years of marriage and 7 years together before that! I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

It feels like just yesterday that we were two high schoolers meeting for the first time in a friend's basement!

You make me the happiest woman in the world!

I can't wait to see what the future holds for us!

I love you, D!

The Day I Met a Squirrel

A few of you have shown interest in hearing the story about the squirrel on my wedding day. Well, here goes!

First, a little background information about me, just so you know where I'm coming from. I've always been afraid of birds and when I was in college one of my roommates said something to me that has stayed with me.

The town where my alma mater is located is a beautiful college town and there are a lot of tree-lined streets. When I was an upper-classman I lived in an old house about a mile or so from campus with a bunch of friends. When the weather was nice (and when the weather was bad) we would walk home from class. There were several routes home and my favorite was one that took me through a quiet neighborhood with lots of giant oak and maple trees. There were always lots of squirrels running through the branches and sometimes they'd jump from branch to branch.

One time when discussing the squirrels, my friend Mary commented that she was always nervous that they were going to jump out of the trees and onto her head as she was walking home.

Seriously? After that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the image of a flying squirrel jumping out of the trees and latching onto my face.

Fast forward a few years. D and I are getting married on a beautiful spring day on his college campus. There are clouds in the sky and we're hoping to get as many pictures taken as we can before the rain starts. We're posing for some pictures on a bench, just outside the door to the church.

All of a sudden, we notice a little squirrel standing a few feet away.

Luckily the little guy head in the direction of the photographer.

I'm feeling pretty relieved that I've escaped the attack of the killer squirrel!

That is, until.....

Oh, there's no way! And yes, that is me, throwing my brand new husband into the proverbial line of fire (hey, its every man for himself, here)!

This is the evil little guy...

Pretty proud of himself.

I should add here, that the photographer (who obviously was unaware of my intense fear of squirrels) thought this was the funniest, most awesome thing that had ever happened at someone's wedding. I quickly explained to him in the most polite and bride-like way that under no circumstances were we to encourage the squirrel and any more photos of me with the squirrel would result in him being fired (and tortured).

And that, my friends, is the story of the squirrel who crashed my wedding!